I would be very interested to know your impressions of this lens. Is the IQ reasonable? Is it well balanced when fitted to a tripod?

The 135-600mm uses 52mm filters mounted at the rear of the lens. Front element diameter is 105mm. It weighs . . . 4.07 Kg, less than half Pentax's heaviest lens, the A* 1200mm which weighs 8.58 Kg.

The K 500mm 1:4.5 weighs 3.37 Kg, uses 52mm rear filters and has a max diameter of 127mm.

The english version of the russian software works fine. Just don't mess with any other menu settings that are revealed by this procedure.

It'll be up for grabs in a well known camera shop in Watford fairly soon. I've swapped it for a K 500mm 1:4.5

I might have posted this in the wrong topic. I thought this was for images of big lenses (apologies for the hurried photo).

It's my rare as hens teeth SMC Pentax 135-600mm 1:6.7 zoom lens with a K20D + battery grip counterweight.

Thanks for all your advice on this topic. I have one further question before placing my order with 7Dayshop (who have no white umbrellas in stock at the moment).

Q: If the Hama brolly bracket 6091 has a threaded screw hole both ends, how do you actually mount the flash to the bracket. The only hot shoe mounts I've ever seen have a similar threaded screw hole. Female to female doesn't go together?

Anyone know of a source of male threaded hot shoe mounts?

For info: I have considered various mains powered strobe lighting setups but as I already have enough battery powered flashes of almost the same capacity as 200/400 strobes (2 x AF540FGZ, 2 x AF360FGZ, 1 X AF500FTZ), I decided to use them and get the stands and brollies etc to go with them. At least then the whole setup is extremely portable.

I'm going for 3 stands, 2 white brollies, 1 silver brolly. I might invest in the Ezybox at a later stage. I already have radio triggers but again, they have female threaded screw holes.

You could try either of these:-
For K10D with firmware version 1.10.
1. Power OFF
While pressing [PLAY]+[OK], turn the camera on.
Firmware is desplayed on LCD.
then press [Fn]->[Fn]->[INFO]->[MENU] within 5 seconds.
You can see DEBUG mode screen.
By pressing [Right key],Make [DEBUG MODE DIS] to [DEBUG MODE EN].
Then, Press [OK].
2. Press [MENU] and go to SETUP tab.
then, Press [Up key], you can see TEST MODE.
Select AF TEST.
By pressing [Down key], select FOCUS CORR.
If you have Front-focusing, reduce the value.
If you have back-focusing, increase the value.
press [OK] and quit out of setup menu.
3. Test your camera for correct focus.
(repeat step 2. until you are satisfied with the result.)
4. Power OFF
While pressing [PLAY]+[OK], turn the camera on.
Firmware is desplayed on LCD.
then press [Fn]->[Fn]->[INFO]->[MENU] within 5 seconds.
You can see DEBUG mode screen.
By pressing [Right key],Make [DEBUG MODE EN] to [DEBUG MODE DIS].
Then, Press [OK].


For DL,DS,DS2,K100D :
1. Power OFF
While pressing [AE-L]+[INFO], turn the camera on.
Firmware is desplayed on LCD.
Press [MENU]->[MENU]->[INFO] within 5 seconds.
You can see DEBUG mode screen.
By pressing [Right key],Make [DEBUG MODE DIS] to [DEBUG MODE EN].
Then, Press [OK].
2. Press [MENU], you can see setup menu.
By pressing [Up key], select AF TEST.
By pressing [Right key], go into AF TEST menu.
By pressing [Down key], select FOCUS CORR.
now you can adjust shift amount by pressing [right key] or [left key].
(*Don't touch AF Area Test.)
after changing the value, Press [OK] to save.
3. Test your camera for correct focus.
(repeat step 2. until you are satisfied with the result.)
4. Power OFF
While pressing [AE-L]+[INFO], turn the camera on.
Firmware is desplayed on LCD.
Press [MENU]->[MENU]->[INFO] within 5 seconds.
You can see DEBUG mode screen.
By pressing [Right key],Make [DEBUG MODE EN] to [DEBUG MODE DIS].
Then, Press [OK].

It's fairly obvious to me that you've never dealt with SRS. Whilst they might be "just another retailer", they most certainly are not "like all the others".

Purple fringing only really occurs when shooting high contrast subjects like tree branches against a bright sky. I've never seen PF with my FA 100mm Macro lens.

The D-FA is lighter, has quick shift, and is possibly your best option. As to its suitability for your purpose, I can't comment as I've never been in that situation.

Have you tried the normal places like SRS Microsystems, Ffordes, Mifsuds, LCE etc?